Jacob Whitaker

Wow, how much do artistic people drive me nuts. Don’t get me wrong, I love art and the people that create art. I love all sorts of music and film. And as my friends will attest to, not necessarily the norm. I do not like pop music, it is mainly dull and unoriginal. Nor do I like most mainstream films with your typical car chase and guy getting the girl at the end. I am not against happy endings, but 99% of them are easily predictable. You have to give me something more than a ho hum happy ending. One of my favorite movies is a movie titled Punch Drunk Love. Shortly after seeing it, I was home for a cousins wedding and my aunt and uncle were telling me about a movie they had gone to see and hated it so much that they had left the theater before it was over. And of course the movie they were talking about was Punch Drunk Love. So my tastes don’t even match my own families tastes.

I personally have not one ounce of artistic ability in my body. My mother on the other hand is very artistic. She is at her core a poet. But I have such issues relating with them. They think with a different side of the brain than I do. I’m not saying my way of thinking is right, just different and in contradiction with theirs. They like to look at the world with a utopian viewpoint. Thinking that things will always work for them if they just believe that it will. Nothing seems to be grounded in reality. To make something happen you need to go make it happen. Hard work and tough choices makes things happen. I am not saying that luck and fortune don’t also play a part, of course they do. But you really have to actively work toward a goal to achieve it. Whatever that goal may be, a college degree, starting your own business or a relationship. Without actions taken to achieve these goals, your odds of achieve them greatly decrease.

Obviously I haven’t been on in a while. I have several reasons why. First, I have been trying to sort out my living situation, which has been a bit stressful, but I believe I have come to a satisfactory solution. And secondly, I have been wondering how to proceed with this blog in the best way for me to achieve my goals.

Basically I want to discuss two main topics with this blog and eventually the book which is my life story and my viewpoint on many common topics from a political standpoint as well as everyday current events we hear about.

Essentially I come at most things from a Libertarian point of view. I am not a Democrat and I am not a Republican. I agree and disagree with some things from both parties. I am at 35 still extremely fascinated at how people will stand on one side of the “aisle” on all topics. How is this possible? I think its due to people conceding their beliefs and just “giving in” if you will.

Let me give you a quick example: Abortion, Capital Punishment and Assisted Suicide. The Democrat is Pro-choice, Anti Cap-Pun and Pro Assis-Sui. The Republican is Anti Abortion, Pro Cap-Pun and Anti Assis-Sui.

Now from a logical standpoint neither side makes any sense. Each party picks and chooses in which case they are ok with death. If someone came up to me and said they were Anti Abortion, Anti Cap-Pun and Anti Assis- Sui, I would respect them and their belief because they clearly are against death in any way and have actually thought about it logically and come to a rational conclusion. But the Dems and Reps, just go along with an idea they have believed probably their entire life without truly exploring it logically.

Just for the record I am Pro Choice, Pro Cap-Pun and Pro Assis- Sui. Peoples individual choices are their own, and none of my business until that person affects me.

Another thing I want to get into deeper soon is religion. I belong to no organized religion of any kind. I believe organized religion is a socially acceptable cult. If I state my belief that is in anyway contrary to the Church’s stated position, then I am ex communicated. Yeah that sounds like a loving and accepting community. Oh wait, nope.

So I have been listening to Adam Carolla a lot lately and I had forgotten how much I agree with him and his viewpoints. He has a great podcast you can download from iTunes. Beware, he uses adult language. My recent favorite one was with Harland Willams where he goes off about waterboarding and Germany.

Adam is an atheist. I don’t believe I am an atheist, though I do agree with their viewpoints often. I was for most of my life an agnostic, which for the unenlightened is not the same thing. One of my problems with organized atheists though is the “Freethinker” movement. It sounds great and like something I would agree with, but the more I have read and learned about it, it is just as exclusionary as any organized religion despite their claim of free thinking. I practice genuine free thinking. My beliefs are mine and no one else’s. And I am sure I do not agree about everything with any one other person on earth. Therefore I am unique and enjoy that uniqueness. Now I am sure I have many similar beliefs to others, but I don’t need to sit in a room or building with other people to validate my own belief or existence.

Well I am going to give this style of writing a try for a little bit and see how it works. Please let me know what you think. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter for more frequent updates of what is going on in my little world. The link is under the links tab on the right side of the page.

JW

So my post today is about “Honesty in Business”. We teach our children to be truthful. I would like to give you a quick example of a scenario I had in the workplace. This is my one and only recollection in 13 years as a working professional where being honest resulted in a positive experience, despite consistently taking responsibility in any situation where I may have made mistakes or errors while my coworkers remained silent.

I once worked for a gentleman named Phil McGraw, which most of you may know simply as Dr. Phil. I was working on the road in Boston setting up a computer system for a trial that was to begin the following day, and in the process of setting up this system, I failed to check one of its components the night before. As a result, the next morning this particular component did not work properly. When asked what was wrong, I owned up and took responsibility for not checking it the day prior, even though I could have lied and claimed there were no previous issues. I admitted my oversight, which I find to be a rare trait in today’s business world. My immediate supervisor was notorious for covering his ass in similar situations. He would have just lied.

Now the reason I remember this scenario so well, despite it happening over 10 years ago, is because later I learned that Phil respected me for telling him the truth and admitting my mistake. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t used to hearing someone accepting the blame or just because he is a smart man. I don’t know which or care to know why. This is just my nature and it is the only example I have of not “getting in trouble” if you will.

So why was there only one good result in 13 years? It is because we go to work and lie to our supervisors on a regular basis so we don’t get in trouble, and this is expected? But yet these same people will go home from work and teach their 7 seven year old son or 10 year old daughter about right and wrong and about being honest. We punish our children for lying to us, and then we lie in the business world.

Am I the only one that sees the problem with this?